Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Denmark Creates Anti-terror Intelligence Analysis Unit

COPENHAGEN (AP)--Denmark Wednesday announced the creation of a new intelligence unit that will analyze terror threats and coordinate responses among government agencies. The Center for Terror Analysis will consist of 15 analysts from Denmark's domestic and foreign intelligence services, the Foreign Ministry and the Danish Emergency Management Agency.

Justice Minister Lene Espersen said the unit would help strengthen Denmark's terror preparedness.

"With a closer cooperation between the relevant authorities we can gain better analyses and threat assessments which would enable us to take the necessary and correct decisions to counter threats," she said in a statement.

Espersen said the government was inspired by the U.K.'s Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, which analyzes and assesses domestic and foreign intelligence relating to international terrorism.

Denmark has upgraded its two intelligence agencies following the terror attacks in the U.S., Madrid and London. Both have recruited new analysts and Arab-speaking staff.

Danish intelligence officials have noted a rise in threats of violence after the Scandinavian country early this year became a target of angry Muslim protests against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper.

The only known attack in Denmark by radical Islamic terrorists occurred in 1985, when a bomb was detonated outside the offices of North West Orient airlines, killing one person and wounding 16. Three Palestinians living in Sweden were convicted of planting the bombs and sentenced to life in prison in 1989.